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Our 43RD Year • Issue No. 4 • January 29, 2026
Jonathan Hawley of Shelby makes magic happen wherever he goes By Alan Hodge For most folks the first thing they utter as a tot might be “googoo” or “dada”, but for Shelby magician Jonathan Hawley it’s not beyond the realm of possibility his first remark was “abracadabra”. Ok, that statement might be a stretch, but the reality is, Hawley has been fascinated with prestidigitation from an early age and has turned that love into a successful career wowing audiences across the globe with his sleight of hand skills. Hawley is a native of Langwith, England. He credits his father with planting the love of magic in his heart. “When I was a child my dad and I used to do tricks when people would come over to the house,” he said. Dancing was another youthful activity that Hawley used as a
Hawley performing before a packed house. a USA bandanna,” he Jonathan Hawley of Shelby has trav- said. eled the world wowing audiences with As he approached his magnificent magic shows. early adulthood, Photos provided Hawley took jobs that he knew deep down springboard towards a career in inside weren’t exactly his mission entertainment. At the in life. tender age of eleven “I worked in factories and as he won an internaa landscaper for our village,” he tional freestyle dancing said. “I really wanted to be a competition in South dancer.” Africa. Fate stepped in and a friend Hawley itched to of his got a job on a cruise ship. see more of the world, He urged Hawley to send the especially America. cruise line a VHS of himself doing “I was the only guy a dance routine. One thing led to in our village wearing another, and Hawley landed a job
Jonathan and Trisha back in their cruise ship dancing show days.
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Hawley concentrating on a card trick.
as a dancer with Costa Cruises. “I went to Miami for the job,” Hawley said. “One of the first people I met was my future wife Trisha who was from Shelby and also a dancer with Costa.” These days, the Hawleys have been married 21 years and have a four-year-old daughter Lena. Anyway, during off-duty hours on the cruise ship, Jonathan would do magic tricks Jonathan’s daughter Lena and wife he learned as a kid for Trisha keep the home fires burning the other crew mem- while he is on tour. bers. On another ship, he met an Italian magiists on the America’s Got Talent cian who took Hawley under his in 2012. They were contacted by wing. a representative from Princess “We would hang out together Cruises who saw them on TV. and he taught me a lot,” Hawley Jonathan has also worked for said. Disney Cruises and Norwegian One day Hawley got an email Cruises. from the Italian inviting him to Italy. As you might expect, doing “I spent six months learning his magic on cruise ships has taken show,” Jonathan said. “I eventually Jonathan all over the world. did it for four years on six different Places he’s been includes ships.” Alaska, Antarctica, all over the Over that period, Jonathan and Trisha started buying their own Caribbean, the Mediterranmagic show equipment and things ean Sea area, Viet Nam, Turkey, See MAGIC Page 2 took off. They were quarterfinalLike Us On
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